On May 15th, Slovakian prime minister Robert Fico was shot five times in an attempted assassination and, as of this recording, remains in critical condition. On this episode of The Eastern Front, Giselle, Dalibor, and Iulia draw on Dalibor's local expertise to unpack the breaking news and its developments. What is Fico's political background and why is he such a polarizing figure? What implications does the assassination attempt have for the state of liberal democracy and political polarization in Slovakia? What impact will this have on the upcoming European Union elections?

Show notes: Sign up for The Eastern Front‘s bi-weekly newsletter here and follow us on X here. Read Dalibor’s analysis of Robert Fico's attempted assassination here.